November 29, 2007

Piedmont Airlines Gate and Ramp Agents Seek CWA Representation

Following a strong inside campaign by unrepresented ramp and gate agents at Piedmont Airlines, CWA this week filed a union representation election petition on behalf of the group with the National Mediation Board, which governs labor relations in the airline and railroad industries. 

Well over a majority of the more than 2,100 agents signed union authorization cards to be represented by CWA.  After verification of the signatures, the board generally schedules a mail-ballot election to take place in about 45 days.

The agents are the only major work group at Piedmont or its parent company, US Airways, without a union.  Piedmont operates as a US Airways Express carrier. Currently CWA and AFA-CWA represent some 10,000 flight attendants and passenger service agents at Piedmont and US Airways.

Like all airline workers, the Piedmont agents have suffered through the industry's tough times, but they are not regaining ground that was lost during major cutbacks between 2001 and 2005. The disparity in their wages, benefits, and job conditions compared with union workers is stark. Piedmont agents earn $8 to $10 an hour less than US Airways' union workers doing the same jobs – often handling luggage at the other end of the same flight.

The workers fell short in an earlier drive to unionize in 2004 largely due to concerns over US Airways' bankruptcy and an aggressive anti-union campaign by management. CWA and AFA-CWA members at the airlines are assisting the Piedmont agents in the current campaign. Piedmont locations stretch from Maine to Florida and as far west as St. Louis.

Maine PUC Staff Urges Thumbs Down on Verizon-FairPoint Deal

It's unanimous.  Regulatory staff in all three northern New England states where Verizon is trying to sell its local phone operations now have urged rejection of the proposed deal with FairPoint Communications.

A staff report to the Maine public utilities commission this week echoed concerns by CWA, IBEW and consumer advocates that FairPoint, a small rural carrier, was assuming too much debt in the $2.7 billion deal and wouldn't have the financial capability to maintain service quality and expand broadband access.

Previously, regulatory staff in New Hampshire and Vermont issued similar reports advising that the deal be blocked or else that extensive conditions be imposed.  Public advocates in Maine and New Hampshire also have opposed the transaction, which involves 1.5 million customers in the three states.

Regulatory commissions aren't bound by the opinions of their advisory staffs, but staff recommendations "carry great weight in complex utility cases," noted the Portland Press-Herald.  The newspaper stated, "The report was especially harsh on what it said was Verizon's deteriorating service quality and its plan to 'abandon' its Maine network to FairPoint."

The Maine PUC staff said that if commissioners rejected their advice to quash the sale, they should impose stringent conditions – 49 in all – including requiring Verizon to drop its sale price by $600 million to lower FairPoint's debt burden, which currently would amount to $1.7 billion.

Other proposed conditions include reduction of FairPoint's stock dividend by 30 percent annually, stronger service standards and higher penalties for failing to meet them, increased broadband investment with Verizon contributing $12 million, streamlining the process for hiring former Verizon workers and a plan to address potential loss of experienced workers.

Kentucky Guild Reaches Out to Community in Health Care Fight

Fed up with management's refusal to budge on health care and sick pay rollbacks, members of The Newspaper Guild-CWA at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky launched an ad campaign and turned out in force for a rally and march Wednesday to take their message to the community.

Even though the union's contract expired 11 months ago, Local 33229 President Brandon Ortiz said talks had been going relatively well recently – until it was clear that the company, under new out-of-state ownership, was refusing to back down on demands that could eliminate health care benefits for part-time workers and overhaul sick leave policies.

"We're bewildered that they would hold up a contract over these two issues," Ortiz said. The local represents 80 newsroom workers, including reporters, photographers and copy editors.

The paper is owned by the McClatchy Co., a large California-based newspaper group, which bought it as part of its purchase of the Knight Ridder chain in June 2006. The union is making sure community members know how handsomely corporate executives profited from the deal: nearly $2 million in bonuses last year for McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt and nearly $60 million for Knight Ridder executives.

The union's campaign, which includes a CWA-sponsored radio ad, billboards and a community petition that readers can sign online, explains that the drive to slash health care and sick pay benefits contradicts the long-standing position of the Herald-Leader's editorial page in favor of universal health care and economic justice.

Readers can sign a petition on the site and send a personal message to Herald-Leader management. Ortiz said workers are already getting strong support, with a state representative, local labor leaders and other community members joining the workers for Wedneday's rally and march to the newspaper building. Speakers included TNG-CWA President Linda Foley, who began her newspaper career at the Herald-Leader as a copy editor.

CWA Supports Striking Writers Guild Members

Members of CWA, TNG-CWA and NABET-CWA are actively supporting striking members of the Writers Guild of America.

From joining picket lines to a support ad in the trade paper Daily Variety, CWA members have made it clear that the main issue that forced the strike – a fair share of the revenue generated by writers' work, whether in digital "new media" or traditional outlets – is an issue shared by CWA members who work in journalism, broadcasting and other creative fields. "It's not fair for media corporations to reap billions in profits without reasonable pay for the creative people doing the work," CWA said in its Variety ad.

In a letter to WGA members, CWA President Larry Cohen, TNG-CWA President Linda Foley and NABET-CWA President John Clark praised their "bold, brave action" as necessary in a world that each day is more dominated by new media.

"Because of your strike, many people outside our industries are grasping these critical issues for the first time. The public understands that it is not fair for media corporations to reap the profits of a new information age at the expense of the creative people doing the actual work," they wrote.

IN BRIEF:
  • CWA Local 2205 members at a Verizon FiOS Fiber Solutions Center, in Hampton, Va., probably figured Thanksgiving Day would be just another long shift in two years of weeks packed with forced overtime.

    But when they showed up for work, Local President Jerry Rogers and Vice Presidents Vera Mikell and Roni Simmonds were there with a full Thanksgiving buffet — including six deep-fried turkeys — that they made from scratch.

    Rogers said he's been fighting the company on the forced 48-hour weeks for two years and is optimistic that the union will prevail in an arbitration process. 

    The local officers not only fed the 169 members on shift, they fed security guards, cleaning crew and the lone manager on duty — all others had the day off. But management must have felt a little chagrined: Rogers said they have agreed to shut down the center on Christmas Day.


  • A new report confirms what virtually everyone except the Bush administration already knows: America's middle class is literally hanging by an economic thread.

    The report finds that only 31 percent of families who would be considered middle class by income are financially secure. Further, four out of five families classified as "middle class" do not have sufficient assets to survive for just three months should their income drop.

    Other chilling findings: 21 percent of middle-class families have less than $100 per week remaining after meeting essential living expenses. And more than half of middle-class families have no net financial assets whatsoever. The statistics are even worse for families of color.

    The nonpartisan group Dçmos and Brandeis University developed a "Middle Class Security Index" to measure the financial stability of the middle class, rating five key factors – assets, education, housing costs, budget and health care. Families studies were ranked as either "secure," "borderline" or "at risk." The full report, "By a Thread: The New Experience of America's Middle Class,"  can be found online at http://www.demos.org/pub1514.cfm.


  • Who's the meanest, greediest Grinch of them all? Who reaped the most obscene salary in 2007 while workers begged for health care? Which company most gleefully trampled its workers' rights?

    Yes, it's a tough call, choosing the worst among so many worth contenders. But that's the fun of the annual Jobs with Justice "Grinch of the Year" contest, which is now underway online at www.jwj.org.

    If you want to nominate a Grinch, act quickly. The deadline is Friday, Nov. 30. But after that, JwJ will compile of list of nominees that will be open for votes in December. Last year's winner was Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., where 15,000 steelworkers went on strike in October 2006 over the company's demands to slash retiree health care, close a plant and cut 1,100 jobs.

    Past winners have included CWA faves Comcast and Verizon Wireless, as well as Wal-Mart, George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.